i like

if you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know a few things about me.

things that i like...

can you reel off a bit of a list ?

hmmm... let me think... i like...

trainers, coffee, cameras, wood, the colour orange, cockney rhyming slang, postcodes,

self-portraits, nicknames, mash-ups, hair product, well designed furniture, wales, tokyo, new york, foxes, welsh cakes, bathing ape clothes, evisu jeans, chicken fried rice with chips and curry sauce, the welsh language, my jam jar...

the list could go on and on i suppose but there's one thing i really like that i have touched on previously, but didn't mention in the above list...

... socks !

that's right... i really like socks... gentlemen's hosiery to be precise.

the other day i was very excited to receive this package at whitfield towers

from sweden... from happysocks !

i buy socks from all places. uniqlo do decent socks, burlingtons are very good too. 

i was once given some really nice socks as a thank-you in a shop called m.u.g. ( minotaur urban gear ) in tokyo, and they are probably my favourite socks... yes i have favourite socks.

but last year i discovered happysocks and since then, i've only been giving my sock

business to the friendly swedes.

can you see the socks in the background ?

and here is the reveal

quality stuff from happysocks

if you're running a bit short on almonds, or if you want to buy a present for

somebody ( everybody likes socks right ? ) then have a butchers at the happysocks

website and give some money to the swedes

www.happysocks.com/en/

and don't forget this christmas that i take a size 41-46

supreme london

i've bought plenty of things from supreme in new york over the years.

i even bought a few things from supreme in harajuku, tokyo.

finally, last week i bought some items from supreme in london.

do you want to see in the bag ?

oi oi !

i'd say, going left to right here you're looking at:

grey work pants, a couple of short sleeve box logo t-shirts,

a pack of three plain tees and a long sleeve box logo t-shirt.

... oh and some stickers and a little magazine.

this is the magazine

it features photography showing mark gonzalez working on the installations

inside the london supreme store. i won't mention the photographer's name.

oooh... you know i like business cards

not like in 'american psycho'... but i do like business cards.

stickers...

who doesn't like stickers ?

especially when a union jack is involved

oh, here's the pack of three hanes plain tees i bought

don't get carried away, the box logo is only on the packaging

the t-shirts themselves are pretty much plain

classic

with just a tiny logo printed at the waist

tidy.

of course the item everybody was queueing for was the london exclusive...

the union jack box logo t-shirts

they were limited to one long sleeve t-shirt per person

and one short sleeve t-shirt per person

although i did manage to snag an extra t-shirt for a friend.

i've always had a soft spot for supreme, maybe they make the odd

strange bit of kit, but they do make some really good stuff too.

well made bags, caps, sweats and trousers...

... and of course, the box tees

which i noted some people selling on ebay later in the evening for £160 !

well played supreme. it's good to have you in london at last.

supreme

as you may know, supreme opened up their first store in europe last week.

the queue on opening day was a joke but the next day it was more sensible.

so i joined in.

the people in front of me were dealing only with cash

yes ben, they were northerners.

after a long wait in the queue, i finally got in.

this is the view inside the changing room by the way.

where i tried on a pair of grey supreme round the houses.

did i buy anything from supreme ?

you bet your ..... ...

house season 7

look what dropped today

house season 7

that's autumn sorted.

arsenal v bolton

my second arsenal home game was against bolton.

here's the view from my seat

here's a shot of me turning my back on the game

photo © gooner jeff

and ramsey turning his back on me

watching arsenal can be thirsty work. 

i think you know which glass is mine.

this is a typical gooner jeff expression...

you know full well he's just about to say...

" 'ere mark listen to this "

and then tell me a joke which will involve a few rhyming slang words that i don't understand... i'll laugh and then ask him what the missing words were.

top man gooner jeff, top man.

gold dust

like gold dust

grrr !

holiday snapshots

ok, rather than spin it out into a few different stories, let me show you the rest of

my snapshots from italy all in one go and i'll just caption them as they drop.

hmmm... this was when we arrived and had a glass of prosecco while

watching the sun set just behind the isle of capri

one of the many shots i took of the sunsets

no matter how hard i tried, it never looked as good as it does in real life.

oh, the last shot was from the hotel bar, this fisheye effort is from our balcony

first coffee on the amalfi coast

it was at the hotel restaurant. to be honest the coffee wasn't great...

... but the view we had while breakfasting was pretty sweet !

on the walk up the steps to town...

homemade ceramic tiles telling you to clean up after your dog

and another homemade tile showing the way

oh, by the way... these are the sneakers i took to italy

liberty x nike blazer lows... i know... you don't like them do you ?

like the sunsets, these look better in real life.

twice a day, waitresses would come out to the hotel pool and hand out

little sorbets with a tiny piece of fruit.

it was a right touch. these little treats really hit the spot.

our bedroom was white on white

and free from shoddy artwork on the walls... perfect.








another sunset effort

capri is on the left by the way








and the view we had while having our evening meal

pretty much like eating in n7








i wasn't that convinced with the hotel coffee so most mornings
we walked to the village and breakfasted in a little cafe
here's a double espresso...

i wasn't happy with the table top, but the coffee was magic darts








i followed it up with a double macchiato

once again it was spot-on, but it did little to change my opinion of the table top.








what are italians like when it comes to the laws of the road ?
like the sunsets and my kicks, this pic doesn't really show the full story...

the little cafe where i was getting coffeed up was next to a newspaper shop and
the road through the village was very narrow and bendy. it is also pretty much full of buses and coaches... not to mention italian men and women on scooters, texting on their mobiles as the weave along through tiny gaps.
no kidding, about 5 or 6 times a day while sitting outside the cafe with various coffees
a car would park up on the zebra crossing outside the newsagent  ( which is
also on a bend ) then the person would stroll into the shop for a few minutes to
buy a paper and have a bit of a chat !
it was madness... coaches and buses would squeeze past with inches to spare... crazy !








as ever, i was on the lookout for bad translations.
i didn't have to look much further than the swimming pool...

you must...








get a bonnet

especially if you look like peter beardsley








you mustn't...

draw animals !
what the what ?!








disappointed at having my plan to draw some animals thwarted,
i had a sorbet and got stuck into a good book...

well... a book








the sorbet was more satisfying than the book to be honest

lime sorbet with some sort of red berry effort








sorry to bore you, here's another coffee. another double espresso

 i love coffee








er... a fisheye view of part of the hotel interior

it was a very nice joint... but it did have some sketchy art on display








hands down, the best car to own around this area is a fiat 500

i owned one of these little lads for 10 years or so you know. good times.








more sorbet

this time it was pineapple sorbet with a bonus blueberry.








you know how much i like the colour orange right ?

so i was happy to see the local beach had opted for this colour scheme.
nice one.








ok, one last attempt at capturing the sunset

hmmm...








self-portrait by the pool at night-time

i'm trying to give my face a bit of fill-in during the 8 second exposure with the light
from my iphone... i don't think it was needed though to be honest.








more thoughtful italian parking

on a bend in the gap between two zebra crossings... grazie.








maybe my favourite double espresso of the week

standard.








and finally, the book drop at the hotel, with a variety of books left by guests

wait a minute...








variety ?

funnily enough, when we left the next day, there were 4 copies of 'one day'



the whitfields flew with easyjet from stansted and stayed at casa angelina.

www.casangelina.com


ciao italia